Reply to "Justice for all"

Justice for all argued about the need of health care for gay married couples. To legalize gay marriage has always been a hot issue but yet, no one seems openly discuss over the issue including many politicians. Total 5 states in the United States allow gay marriage by law. Sooner or later, gay marriage will be legalized by federal law. This is not the end to the solution. Discrimination to minority sexuality will still exist. The author of “Justice for all” insists that we should eliminate other systems which are against legal gay married couples. The author points out that most of gay couple are excluded from company benefits which is one example of discrimination. Even if they are fortunate enough to be eligible for coverage, they are still charged at the higher rate. We have to consider this point that by passing the law which allows gay people to marry means that the state and local government proves them to formulate a family. We have to look at this minority group and treat them the same as ordinary American families. I agree with this author, that if same sex marriage is ok by the law, then the government should provide essential things for a family regardless of there being two mothers or two father in that family. Taking care of their health and their family is a very basic need. It should be guaranteed by the government once gay marriage is approved. Equal liberties, equal rights, and civil rights must be accomplished in conjunction to approving a gay couple to marry.

Voter Identification Bill

I have a clear memory of my very first vote as an U.S citizen, which was the 2008 Presidential Election. It was a completely different process compared to the country where I was born. When I was in my birth country, all I needed was a photo identification card, which is not same as a driver’s license. It’s like an identification card issued by state, which contains the information about you, such as, social security number, residential address, date of birth including your photo on it. However, we did not have anything called a “voter registration certificate”. Since someone has an identification card issued by state or country, it means that they have a right to vote in my birth country. But, U.S citizens who want to vote must register for a voter registration certificate. I think that this process is a necessity in the diverse country like the U.S. But there should not be any additional card or certificate.

Recently, several Republican Senators from Texas bring their concerns over voting fraud. They have suggested a “Voter ID Bill” to protect the integrity of the voting process. On the other hand, Democrats oppose the bill, because Republican is attempting to eliminate the potential Democrat’s supporters, who are mainly the elderly, ethnic minorities and the poor people by requiring a new voter’s identification card. It’s not only a hassle to this particular group of people, but also students, military personnel, who are physically out of state but hold their residency in Texas. These voters also have to be reconsidered.

I have heard that there is a potential risk of a computerized voting fraud. However, some Senators insist that there might be fraud over the process of voter registration certificates. If someone has the ability to swindle the voter registration certificate and driver’s license, they definitely can manipulate the coming up voter identification card. Texas has lowest voting rates in the country.

Senators from Texas dispute about the need for a new voter registration card. They say if we do not have additional requirements, then it will jeopardize our future elections. What do they really want? I thought politicians were trying to increase the amount of voters but by creating and passing this bill will discourage Texans and this is an attempt to disenfranchise voters. We know that all political parties want to win the majority vote. They will do anything in their power to allow it happen, even though it is not an efficient method.

Blissful Ignorance

Horrible Planing and no end in sight.....

Our government has seriously done a terrible job managing this campaign to fight terrorist. There are several facts pointed out in this blog that make a clear point. We have lost American troops and spent too much money trying to restructure a government to be a civilized democracy. This blog basically insists that we need to pull our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan and utilize that man power at high stress points such as, our mass transit facilities like airports, harbors, and all along our borders. We do need to strengthen our borders so that they are secure from any intrusion of unthinkable acts. However, I think that pulling out our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan all at once, is not a good idea. We must pull them out gradually, to slowly put the weight on their country security forces, so that they can manage with out depending on U.S military.

It really seems that we haven’t achieved much in Iraq. But there are so many things we have to reconsider before we walk away. Iraq is basically in a state of anarchy since we invaded their country. Iraq has been targeted as a country of origin for women, girls, and even babies for human trafficking to Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Gulf countries and some European nations for the purposes of sex, labor, and organ exploitation. Iraq has become the breeding grounds for terrorist organizations which threaten the future of Iraq and neighboring countries. It clearly shows that Iraq is in a sensitive state and if there were an immediate withdraw of U.S. troops, then who is to say which direction this country will be heading.
I support this article in regards to strengthening our borders but we must finish the job that we started in Iraq and Afghanistan. America is being watched very closely by many powerful nations and if we walked away, we could lose important relations with some allies as well as the investment we have in these countries. Our current government will need to figure out a better method in protecting our national interest and to secure our borders.

Stimulus for whom?

Our nation is in trouble, big trouble. Our President seems to be doing his best to get us out of this trouble. But is it the right path to get us out of this deep hole?

Mass media talks about several stimulus packages. Think tanks from different fields, analyze this package. Some people show positive opinion about the plans and others don’t. All Americans, including the world economy, are hoping that this package will stimulate the economy and send this downward spiral into an uprising stable state.
What is this stimulus package going to do for us? One thing for sure, is that we will have to pay a whole lot of taxes to even out the debt we’re currently in. Do we need to stand up and be against that? Many people will say that they don’t want to pay any more taxes to the government which seems to be handed out to the big businesses that got us in the recession in the first place.

Ironically, we want our nation to be the strongest military force in the world and to be the richest country, but yet Americans don’t seem to be willing to pay more taxes. How can the government achieve the country’s goal of remaining number one, if our country remains in the negative?

I support the stimulus package. Yes, I’m willing to pay more tax for our country as long as it works. But none of the stimulus packages out there are for ordinary citizens. We are not even close to be affected by this plan. The government is stimulating the wrong part of America. Look around, how did we end up in this crisis? It’s because of the wicked powerful bankers and corporations. Giving out the money to failed corporations without any condition, is like pouring water over a duck’s back which would fail to keep it wet.
The government should focus on the common consumer since they are the ones that seem to stimulate the economy by buying consumer goods which creates the demand.

Our government should consider what trouble the ordinary American faces now. Home owners can’t pay their mortgages and in turn the banks fail due to the large number of bad credits they have. Majority of these Mortgages where given to home owners that couldn’t afford any inflated interest rate. The government could give out money for home owners which would be a little to late for most, or they can restructure the Mortgage rates along with the entire home loaning process. Either way you look at it, Mortgages are what got us into this faction in the first place. Now the homeless population has increased dramatically and banks are going bankrupt. The government is giving out money to the wrong groups of people. What have the failed corporations done so far with our tax money? They bought new jets and reward themselves for the awful job they have done.

Since the first stimulus package didn’t work out for changing our economy around, hopefully our government has learned from their failures and now recognizes who they need to stimulate.

U.S. Approach To Afghanistan

Obama’s Cautious Approach To Afghanistan

Peter Juul is an associate researcher of American Progress. He specializes in the Middle East, military affairs, and U.S national security policy.
Peter Juul wrote about Obama’s recent announcement in regards to the new strategy for the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Obama will send 17,000 troops and 82nd Airborne Division to train Afghan security forces. Obama insists that we need to send more troops to stabilize the national security of Afghanistan. According to the author, Obama seems to focused more on being civilized in Afghanistan. Also Obama administration suggests giving Hamid Karzai or his successor authority to improve Afghanistan’s political problem, so that the U.S. can divert from being a strong hold in their country. The author compares the new strategy of Afghanistan to Vietnam from 1965 to 1968. During that time, the U.S supported generals in Saigon which the U.S. Deployed a lot of military forces to engage communist forces, in order to give Saigon time to get its act together at which they failed to accomplish. It gave the U.S a big load of failures. This war might be similar to Vietnam geographically speaking, so the U.S. must overcome the Afghan landscape. There are high deserts with rugged hills, endless valleys, and segregated regions which will take some time for our military to adapt and over come. The author thinks that we have a decent chance to succeed in Afghanistan, if Afghan politicians act together with the U.S.

Right now the government administration of President Hamid Karzai is corrupted, his relatives are affiliated with the drug trade, and the over all government of Afghanistan is weak. Karzai is not a strong leader to bring all Afghanistan people together. In Afghanistan, military efforts have had a tendency to lose sight of their goal. Do we really have to spend another Trillion, towards another country, in the middle of this ferocious recession?

Take Away Their Mercedes

Take Away Their Mercedes, was written by Marcus Noland who is author of “Avoiding the Apocalypse: The Future of the Two Koreas” and “Korea after Kim Jong-Il”. Marcus Noland has been associated with the Peterson Institute for International Economics since 1985. His areas of geographical knowledge and interest include Asia and Africa where he has lived and worked. In the past, he has written extensively on the economies of Japan, Korea, and China. He is unique among American economists in having devoted serious scholarly effort to the problems of North Korea and the prospects for Korean unification.

His targeted audience is not only U.S. government but also, private organizations which provide donations to North Korea without any condition.
In this article, the author wrote about the speculation of North Korea’s recent missile launching test. He mentioned several reasons for North Korea’s recent naughty behavior. There aggressive behavior might be towards South Korea’s new government, which they have strict policies toward North Korea, or a test of the new Obama administration, or even to advertise indirectly to potential weapon buyers like Iran, Syria and Libya. The U.N. has tried several different methods to calm North Korea attempts towards weapon testing and weapons of mass destruction, but it shows to be ineffective.

Another thing that the author mentions is that it might be easier for the U.S to deal with North Korea right now, because China and South Korea are in favor of tougher sanctions. He briefly mentions a way to solve this problem with North Korea. North Korea depends on outsiders for oil, food, and medicines. The U.N. has been talking about cutting the source for oil but not for food or essential medicines. The author stated that they should cut the food and medicine which would have a bigger impact on North Korea.

The author only looks at this matter from the American point of view. He never mentioned about how it might affect South Korea. The thought is, if the U.S. were to cut down food and essential medicines for North Korea, then they won’t have any other choice but to give up on weapon testing. But what is not being mentioned is the possibility of North Korea still pursuing weapon testing. Even though the missiles being tested may not reach a U.S. border, there is still a possibility of one landing in an unintended area like South Korea. South Korea has had a cease fire agreement with North Korea since the 1960s. U.S military forces have had a presence in South Korea ever since then; for the purpose of protecting South Korea from North Korea’s invasion. The U.S will react regardless of where the rocket lands. So the U.S. government can’t just corner them and cut out all aids they need.

U.S. to Offer Spare Airline Parts Sales to Syria

U.S. to Offer Spare Airline Parts Sales to Syria, Officials Say, was an article written by Jay Solomon of the Wall Street Journal.

Our new administration in Washington are now allowing the sales of spare parts to Syria’s national airline, which they hope to start easing their relationship with Syria.

The Bush administration passed Syria Accountability Act into law on December 12, 2003. Syria Accountability Act is to penalize Syria for their engagement with militant groups in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.

President Barack Obama made it clear that they will directly communicate with Syrian President, to stabilize troubled areas in the Middle East.

The Commerce Department is now given the right to grant limited waivers to companies to sell spare parts to the Arab Airline. With the sales of spare parts, these companies are warned not to violate U.S. Laws.

The President of Syria has stated that Obama’s administration has given the final decision and the Transportation Ministry says that U.S. Commerce has given grants to Boeing, to fix two aircrafts that have been out of service for a year. The U.S. government has not denied nor confirmed these allegations.

This article is well worth reading, because we seem to forget about what we have been through with the Middle Eastern countries. We are, right now, blinded by stimulus packages and economic chaos which is being covered exclusively. This article gives us some very important information about the past issues that were during the Bush Administration and the present plan for building relations with these Middle Eastern nations. Syria Accountability Act, stated purpose, is to stop Syria from doing illegal actions against U.S such as, the illegal importation of Iraqi oil and to end illegal shipment of military items to anti-US forces in Iraq. What the Obama administration is now offering to Syria, might create more jobs for airline companies, but are we ready to move forward with these actions with Syria? Can we trust them?


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123446418763978491.html